Two men are running in the June 2 Republican primary race for Clarke County Supervisor Dist. 2 - incumbent Randy Dunbar and former county supervisor Larry Keller. Dunbar is looking to retain his seat to be on the general election ballot in November while Keller looks to return to the office. There are no Democrats running for the position.
Dunbar
Dunbar has been a resident of rural Clarke County nearly all of his life. He was raised on the family farm and joined the United States Army right out of high school. After serving in Vietnam, Dunbar attended junior college in Creston then Northwest Missouri State University. After college, Dunbar taught high school classes and coached both football and wrestling. He returned to the family farm in 1983.
“I have always done a little farming and loved the land,” he said. For the bulk of his career, Dunbar owned a carpentry business.
First elected to the supervisors in 2022, replacing retiring Keller, Dunbar said he is seeking re-election to continue the work that has been ongoing in the office.
“There’s a lot of things that we have started and things that we have changed but there’s still things to do,” Dunbar said. “I feel like we’ve made a positive change in the county and I want to continue if I can.”
If reelected, Dunbar’s top three priorities are being compliant with House File 718, addressing the moratoriums on solar and data centers in the county and continuing improvements on county infrastructure.
With HF718, which deals with property tax reform, Dunbar said while the county has already made several cuts, they will have to continue making more tough cuts. Regarding the moratoriums, Dunbar said work is needed in zoning to create ordinances that address both of those.
Dunbar said he has appreciated the opportunity to service Clarke County for the past four years, and points to being a hard-worker with knowledge of southern Iowa living that help him as a supervisors.
“I want a better Clarke County,” he said, “and I would like to continue to try to make more improvements in the county.”
Keller
Keller was raised in Clarke County and graduated from Clarke Community Schools in 1969. He started at Clarke Electric Cooperative in 1971 as a lineman and retired from there after 38 years. For the last 12 years, he has served on the Clarke Electric Cooperative Board of Directors.
“I raise cattle and take care of grandkids and try to stay out of trouble,” Keller said.
In 2012, Keller was elected to the board of supervisors over the Democrat incumbent, and he was re-elected in 2016 and 2020, serving a total of 10 years before he retired.
Of his decision to run again, Keller said he was approached by several people about putting his name in the race. Keller said in the last four years, the county has undone work that he and former supervisors Marvin McCann and the late Bill Black had accomplished while in office.
“For 10 years when I was supervisor, we did all kinds of things to improve our county,” Keller said.
Within three months of his retirement, Keller said the supervisors had started to take the county backwards. Part of that came from selling secondary road equipment purchased during his tenure, equipment that had made a big difference in Clarke County’s roads.
To Keller, this lack of equipment along with the loss of secondary road employees - including the county engineer - has led to the deterioration of roads and infrastructure within the county.
When he was supervisor, Keller said they were able to lower the levy rate seven out of eight years, a task that is hard to do. He also took issue with their elimination of the courthouse deputy position.
Keller said as a supervisor, its one’s job to listen to and answer the taxpayers, and spoke of the lack of answers that come from the supervisor’s office. He used the wind turbine meetings as one example.
“Taxpayers have a right to ask these questions ’cause they’re spending tax money,” he said. “They already signed off on these wind towers, and they wouldn’t even give the taxpayers the option to talk to them about why they didn’t want them.”
The supervisors approved updated zoning regarding wind towers in Sept. 17, 2025, waiving the third reading of the proposed amendment.